Electric locomotive



(No Model.) 4 Sheets-Sheet L H. ERHARDT.

ELEpTRG LOGOMOTWE. No. 356,579. PatentedJan. 25, 1887.'

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H. ERHARDT.

ELECTRIC LOGOMOTIVVE.

Patented Jan. 25, 1887.

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HERR-MANN ERHARDT, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

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SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 356,579, dated January 25, 1837.

Application filed Oltuber 12, 1885. Serial o. 179,650. (No model.)

To @ZZ whom it 71mg/ concern:

Be it. known that l, HHRRMANN Enniinnnof Boston, in the county of Suffolk and State of Massachusetts, have invented a new and useful Improvementin Electric Locomotives, of which the following is a specification, which, by reference lo the accomlianying drawings, forming a part thereo`,is sufficient to enable a person skilled in the art to make and use my invention.

The invention relates to thatcl ass of electric locomotive which receives its actuating current through a pair ol' conductors insulated from each other and placed between the tracks on which the carriage ot the locomotive runs, and specifically it relates to the mounting of the contact-wheels and to the connection of the dynamo with the driving-wheels.

In the drawingaldlignre lis a side elevation, the driving-wheels ot' one side removed. Fior. 2 is a top plan on the platform ofthe locomotive. Fig. 3 is a bottom plan under the platform. Fig. et is an en d elevation at 'the contact end ofthe locomotive. Figs. 5, 6, 7, and 8 are views of the details ofthe contact apparatus. Fig. 9 isa plan of' the wiring ol' the locomotive.

A indicates the platform ofthe locomotive. Bis a dynamo mounted thereon. C is a resistance-box. D is the truck which carries the drivers.

The power-pulley ofthe dynamo is belted, (or geared,) as shown at E, to a wheel, H, beneath the plat-form, and from this wheel H by a belt, G, halt-crossed to a driven pulley, I, the axis of which coincides with the center of os` eillation ofthe truck D. A proper gearing to a rotary member of a train of gearing embodied in the truck is, of course, the equivalent of the half-crossed belt. From the driven pulley l the rotary motion is transmitted to the driving-wheels resting on the track by any proper train of gearing. TWhat is shown in Fig. l is a bevelgear on the same center as the pulley I, meshing into a bevel-gear on a shaft, k. helow the pivotal center of truck D, which shaft h carries gears which engage other gears on the shafts of the driving-wheels 1"-,- but the improvement in this part ofthe mechanism consists in making the center of motion of the truck oscillations the center of motion of the .rst wheel, Loftliedriving-wheel gear, to which the power ot' the dynamo placed on the center ofthe platform of the carriage is transmitted. At the opposile end of the carriage 'from the driving-truck D is the contacttrucl; K. The electric current travels on the conductors a b, placed between the rails yfraud insulated from each other by the stringer c, and it is to pass the current from one of these conductors c b to the other, throughl the dynamo B, by way of the resistance-box C, that electric contact is required.

My improvement in this part of the machine consists in mounting the contact-wheels in universal bearings, so that they may accommodate themselves to irregularities in level position and curvatnres of the conductorsa l).

The contact-truck K is a frame connected to the platform by a swivel-bearing, and fnrnished with boxes d, Fig. l, for the wheeljournals. These boxes d are in cheeks e, Figs. l and 6, which cheeks are connected at top by a sill, g, connected by a king-bolt, u, with the platform of the locomotive. All this isa usual construct-ion, and any form of truck-frame in ordinary use will serve. The cheeks e are further connected by rail j', on which roll the wheels Ic. It will readily be seen that these wheels k can traverse transversely of the truckframe. The wheels It are each pivoted to a conductingslandard, Z, which carries at its lower end two pivoted arms, o, Figs. 5 and 6, which arms o are pressed upward by springs a. Contactwheels m are mounted in these J Wheels m which engage the conductor a are' insulated from the wheels m which engage the conductor b, and each of them from the truck- 4frame in any suiable manner-such, for example, as making thc wheels It of insulating material and removing all parts made of conducting material from dangerous proximity to the nprights L'. A connection by asuificientlyslack insulated conductor can now be made between the uprights Z Zand the Pand'hT binding-posts ofthe resistance-box G.

Sometimes still more universality of movement and greater adaptability than is afforded by the device just described is required for the contact-wheels in. ln each case the apparatus will he modilied, as shownin Figs. 7 and S.

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The wheels m arejournaled at opposite ends l of the cross-piece o', which is pivoted to the shankZZ. rIhe shank Z2 is free to move vertically in the hollow standard Z up or down and around its own axis. The connection of the hollow standards with wheels lc and their insulation from each other and their connection with the resistance-box C would be sub stantially as already described. A s'pring, Z3, draws the wheels m against the conductors a and b, respectively. These parts Z. Z2 Z"x perform the duty of part Z in the device of which this is a modification, and the spring Z3 does also the duty of springs k in said device. Each pair ofwheelsm have an oscillatory movement around a vertical axis intermediate between them; but in both modifications it will be seen that the area of the conductor from the wheels m to the resistancebox C is constant, no matter what the position of wheels m.

rIwo forms of insulation are shown in the drawings, but any convenient way may be adopted.

In Figs. 5 and 6 a web, q, extends verti cally downward from the silly of the truck K, near each end ofthe sill g, inside of the truck` wheels, and two transverse rails, s, are firmly fixed in the ears of these webs q, one on each side of the transverse railf. A yoke, t, ofinsulating material, fast, as shown, to standard Z, and adapted to slide on the rails s, and with insulating washers or thimbles at the standards Z, breaks the metallic con nection between the standards Z in the device shown in these figures.

In the form shown in Figs. 7 and 8 the rails s are surrounded by insulating sliding thimbles in solid tint. The yoke t,whiehlayshold ot them, may be of metal, and it and the standards Z are insulated by the partinglblock v, also in solid tint.

The section-line in the center of Fig. shows the plane ofthe section shown in Fig. 6, and the section-lines in the centers of Figs. 6 and 7 show reciprocally the plane of the section in the other gures. i

The device described in the contact-truck, it will be seen, is a current-collector, and the improvements of this part ofthe engine consistin mounting it in such a way as that it may traverse bodily transversely of the truck, and also in making t-he pairs of contact-wheels, one pin for each standard, not only with Shanks, which are spring-drawn to the con ductors c and b, but also with vertical and horizontal springhinges, so that they may have `constant electrical connection of uniform area with the resistance-box, and yet great independence of movement among themselves; and for better understanding of this the standards, pivots, and their connections are classitending from said frame into the conduit and Y taking current from the conductors.

Having thus fully. described my invention, I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United Statesl. The combination of a couple of conducting-standards, Z, insulated from each other and from thetruck-frame, and formingthe .two branches of a current-collector, each of which standards is provided with atraversing-wheel, k, with a truck-frame, K, provided with trans` verse bar f, whereby the disturbance due to lateral displacements of the current collectors by lateral irregularities of the conductors is neutralized, substantially as and for the purpose described.

2. The combination ofconducting-standards Z, insulated from each other,with their respective pairs of contact-wheels m, by` pivotal and spring connections, forming a spring universal joint,.which permits movements of said wheels m which form the contacting portion of the current-collector in various directions wit-hout changing the cross-section ot' the conducting portion of the current-collector between the permanent conductors a and b, respectively,

and the bindingposts of the resistance-box, substantially as described.

3. In an electriclocomotive, a drivingfwheel truck, to which `the car-body is pivoted, and which carries atx-ain of gearing for moving the vertical wheels of the truck, in which the first wheel is horizontal, concentric with the pivotal connection between truck and car, and

HERRMANN ERHARDT.

Witnesses:

F. F. RAYMOND, 2d, FRED. B. DoLAN.

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